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Andre Wisdom
Andre Wisdom is an English footballer who played for Liverpool until 2017, when he signed for Derby County for £4,500,000. Liverpool career Wisdom signed from Bradford City at the age of 14 in January 2008. Described as a "powerful, pacey centre-back", he progressed through the Liverpool academy setup to become an established member of the under 18s, with whom he reached the 2009 FA Youth Cup final. His form paid off as he was given the first team shirt number 47 for the 2010-11 season, and even played in Jamie Carragher's testimonial match in September 2010. Wisdom was named in a competitive squad for the first time in a League Cup tie with Northampton on 22 September 2010. The youngster made the bench in the Reds final league game of the season in a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa. On 7 July 2011 Wisdom signed a contract extension for Liverpool. He captained the Reserves for the 2011-12 season, and made 20 League appearances for the side. He also appeared in every game of the NextGen Series as Liverpool finished in third place. In July 2012, new Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers took Wisdom on the first team's pre season tour of the USA. He played the first half of Liverpool's 1-1 draw against Toronto, producing an assured display from the right back position. He followed this up with impressive substitute displays in the Reds' remaining two fixtures of the tour. Wisdom made his first team debut for Liverpool on 20 September 2012 in a Europa League group match against Young Boys. He scored a powerful header from a corner in the 40th minute to give Liverpool a 2-1 lead; the match finished 5-3 to Liverpool. On 29 September 2012, Wisdom made his first League start as he played the duration of Liverpool's 5-2 away victory over Norwich City in place of the injured Martin Kelly. Wisdom was praised by Brendan Rodgers who said "He's got all the qualities that I believe will set him up to have a very good career... When I came in, Andre Wisdom had been playing a lot at centre-half but he has the physical and technical capacity to play full-back. The modern day full-back has a lot of the ball and he has got to have strength, pace and power. Andre has that." Wisdom maintained his place in the starting XI for much of the early part of the season, however when Jose Enrique returned from injury, Wisdom found himself more often on the bench. When Enrique picked up another injury in late December however, Wisdom returned to the starting XI. On 9 January 2013, Wisdom committed his future to Liverpool by signing a new long-term contract. Wisdom failed to get much more senior football with Liverpool for the remainder of the season and began to appear again for the Under 21s to help them in the climax to their season. He was brought back into the team for Liverpool's 3-1 away win over Fulham on 12 May 2013 and provided an assist for Daniel Sturridge to score Liverpool's opener with a long punt downfield. Following the end of the season, it was reported that Liverpool wished to send Wisdom out on loan, however an injury to Glen Johnson meant this was to be delayed. Following Johnson's return, on 21 October 2013, Wisdom stated on his Twitter account, "Can't wait to start at Derby." A day later it was confirmed that Wisdom would join Derby County on loan for the rest of the 2013-14 season. He returned for Liverpool's first two pre-season matches of the 2014-15 season before he sealed a season-long loan to fellow Premier League side West Brom on 22 July 2014. On 26 May 2015, Wisdom signed a new four year deal at the club. Despite this, on 29 July 2015, Wisdom was sent out on loan for the third season running, this time to fellow Premier League outfit Norwich. Wisdom returned to the club in the summer of 2016, after a disappointing spell at Norwich. He featured a lot at centre-back during pre-season, and also appeared for the U23s. However on 31 August 2016 it was confirmed that Wisdom was to spend a fourth consecutive season on loan, this time at Austrian side Red Bull Salzburg. After four consecutive seasons out on loan, it was confirmed on 3 July 2017 that Wisdom had completed a £4,500,000 move to Derby County, who he had played for in the 2013-14 season. Wisdom made 22 appearances for Liverpool, scoring a single goal, on his debut. Stats Notes *Aged 18, Wisdom appeared on the Liverpool F.C. official site in the June 2011 edition of an article series called "One to Watch," which outlined six very gifted young players from Liverpool's academy. External links * *Andre Wisdom's profile on liverpoolfc.com * Category:Former Players Category:Defenders